Unicorn Horns Sold in Europe Came From Narwhals
A unicorn is a mythical horse with a single horn. The horns sold as unicorn in medieval Europe were narwhal tusks.
A unicorn is a legendary horse-like animal with one spiralling horn. The horns were real enough to trade: medieval European unicorn horns were narwhal tusks brought south by Norse traders, and they sold for enormous sums as antidotes to poison. Business has since borrowed the word for a private company valued at over a billion dollars.
- A mythical one-horned horse. *A unicorn on the shield.*
- A rare and valuable thing. *The ideal candidate is a unicorn.*
- A startup worth over a billion dollars. *Another tech unicorn.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | unicorn | A white unicorn. |
| Plural | unicorns | Heraldic unicorns. |
| Related | narwhal | A narwhal tusk. |
| Related | alicorn | The horn itself. |
| Related | heraldry | The royal arms. |
How it is used in a sentence
- A unicorn supports the royal arms of the United Kingdom.Representing Scotland.
- The company became a unicorn in three years.Business.
- Unicorn horns were narwhal tusks.The medieval trade.
Unicorn facts
- Narwhal — an Arctic whale whose spiral tusk is an extended tooth
- Heraldry — the unicorn is the Scottish supporter of the royal arms
- Ctesias — a Greek writer whose account of an Indian animal fed the legend
- Tech unicorn — a term coined by the investor Aileen Lee in 2013
- Alicorn — the name for the horn itself
From Latin *unicornis*, one-horned, from *unus*, one, and *cornu*, horn. Descriptions of a one-horned animal in Greek writing were probably based on rhinoceroses.
Where did the horns come from?
Narwhal tusks. Norse traders sold them south without explaining their source, and they fetched extraordinary prices.
Why is a startup called a unicorn?
The investor Aileen Lee used the term in 2013 for a private company valued at over a billion dollars, because they were then so rare.